Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-11-11
THE cITY's INJURIOUS INFLUENCES.
Those Which Chiefly Affect the Stability
Of the Nervous Sy.t~m.

Those Which Chiefly Affect tho Stability
Of the Nervous system.
l do not intend to discuss in this paper
the subjects Of bad ventilation and i'm.
pure air, imperfect drainage. damp eel
lars or insufficient nourishment. refer
to those influences which chiefly affect
the stability of the nervous system. rem
dering it less capable of sustained work
and in secondary way only the circula.
ton and general nutrition The result Of
all these influences is to lessen the pro-
ducing power Of each man and thus to
depreciate his value as an economic fac
tor. Their cause is to be found in faulty
municipal arrangements which can be
largely corrected by intelligent action
and supervision. They work BY pro-
ducing insomnia, aberrant forms of men,
tai action. These. effects accumulate
with each successive generation sub
jected to their influence until the final in
heritor finds the load too heavy to bear
and do any useful work. refer chiefly
to three, and these are:
First. Disease of the upper extremi-
ties for any considerable muscular exer-
ton.
Second. The incessant noise of large
city.
Third. Jarring of the brain and spinal
cord by continual treading upon the stone
and brick pavements which make our
sidewalks and streets.
If there is one general physical differ
ence between the country bred and TIN
city bred man it lies in the size aid
strength Of the muscles of the shoulder
and arm. This use of the arms has In
both men and women an important bear-
ing on the general health since il in
creases the capacity of the chest and
thereby the surface of lung tissue where
the blood is spread out in thin walled
vessels through which the oxygen and
carbonic acid easily pass in opposite direc-
tons. serving thus the double purpose of
feeding the body more abundantly and
of removing a constantly accommodating
waste product.
A man may walk in an hour four miles
on city sidewalk and reach his desk
tired, exhausted Of force and better only
for the open air and slight increase of
the circulation. Had he spent half that
time in well ordered gymnasium using
chest and rowing weights, and after a
sponge bath if he had gone by rapid
transit to his Office. he would have found
his work Of a very different order, easier
to do and taking less time to perform it.
The remedy for this state of things is to
cause every man ard woman to realize
the importance of arm exercise. Make it
compulsory in schools and popular after
leaving school.
A second injurious influence which per-
tains exclusively to city life is incessant
noise. This may not be very intense al
any time, but when continuous it acts as
certainly upon the nervous system as
water falling upon a stone Elevated
railroads should not be permitted in
ffrects where men and women live. A
ihird hurtful influence of city life is
]arring of the brain by continual treading
upon stone pavements. If any one
doubts that there is distinct and de-
cided jar of the brain with each step let
him walk 100 yards when the brain is
slightly over sensitive from bad cold. or
and he will observe the pain
each step causes.
Now in many people, the i'll effects of |
these thousands of slight daily conclusions
and after a time concur with
other causes in producing that state of
disability called nervou, exhaustion.
is needed for p<IestrL. ms which
will be durable Yet not hard. S..ne of
he varieties of asphal. composition are
'lastic. but none of them sufficiently dur
lble so far as l know. Nature suggests
remedy in second way in the covering
# the human heel itself, where we find
very elastic pad one-half an inch thick
o lessen the jar of walking. If we re-
lace the perfectly hard boot heel by ali
lastic india rubber one we provide an
Inexpensive and practical remedy which
would cost the wearer but few cents
month to keep in repair.-Dr. Walter
;. Platt.